September 21st is the Feast of Saint Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles and the author of the Gospel according to Matthew. However, this year the Solemnity of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday Ordinary Time in the liturgical year of Catholic Church took precedence. Jesus called Matthew to follow Him while he working as tax collector in Capernaum (Matthew 9:8; Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 identified him as with the Levi.) The Apostle Matthew first served the communities of Palestine and during the persecution of Herod Agrippa I in 42 AD, he left for other lands, though there is lack of definite knowledge about the later part of his life. One tradition is that he travelled to Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea (not Ethiopia in Africa), and other traditions mention Persia and the kingdom of the Parthians, Macedonia, and Syria. The Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church records St. Matthew as having suffered martyrdom in proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ. The Gospel according to St. Matthews Gospel was written in Aramaic, the common Hebrew language, to proclaim to the Jewish people that Jesus Christ is the Promised Messiah, in Whom all the promises of the Messianic Kingdom had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way and embracing all people. St. Matthew was a talented scribe and deeply versed in the law of the Lord. He dedicated all his efforts to the study of God’s law so that with the Lord’s guidance he might observe his precepts and teach them to others. The gospel of God’s glory is credited to him. From a homily on Apostle St. Matthew by Saint Bede the Venerable, priest Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men. He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me. This following meant imitating the pattern of his life—not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. And he rose and followed him. There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew’s assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift. As he sat at table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. This conversion of one tax collector gave many men, those from his own profession and other sinners, an example of repentance and pardon. Notice also the happy and true anticipation of his future status as apostle and teacher of the nations. No sooner was he converted than Matthew drew after him a whole crowd of sinners along the same road to salvation. He took up his appointed duties while still taking his first steps in the faith, and from that hour he fulfilled his obligation and thus grew in merit. To see a deeper understanding of the great celebration Matthew held at his house, we must realize that he not only gave a banquet for the Lord at his earthly residence, but far more pleasing was the banquet set in his own heart which he provided through faith and love. Our Savior attests to this: Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me... Let us pray, O God, who with untold mercy were pleased to choose as an Apostle Saint Matthew, the tax collector, grant that, sustained by his example and intercession, we may merit to hold firm in following You. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. St. Matthew, pray for us.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 00:34:28 +0000
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